Camp Get FIT helping underserved kids lose weight and get healthy
Ten-year-old Pedro Gutierrez used to get out of bed every day and plop down in front of the TV to join Mario on a video-game adventure.
Now his mornings have real adventure – a mile walk with his mother, Christina Trujillo.
And they’re both eating a lot healthier, too.
And it’s all thanks to Camp Get FIT, a program of Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas that aims to reduce children’s risk of obesity-related health problems by combining weekly nutrition meetings at school with a summer weight-loss camp. Pedro Gutierrez was one of 235 children from Carrizo Springs and Crystal City, two largely Latino towns in South Texas, who participated this summer.
“Pedro now wears shorts that he literally has to hold up while he’s running,” said Trujillo. “The program has helped him and a lot of other kids try new foods and stay active, instead of Nintendo and TV all the time. It’s helping us have healthier lives.”
Peggy Visio, a consulting dietitian for Methodist Healthcare Ministries and adjunct assistant professor in the School of Allied Health Sciences at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, started Camp Get FIT in South Texas four years ago.
Visio helps children in this largely rural, largely Latino region, where an alarming number of children are obese. About 37 percent of elementary school students in Eagle Pass (where the program started) and 32 percent of students in Crystal City and Carrizo Springs (to which the program expanded for the 2007-2008 school year) have a body mass index (BMI) that classifies them as obese.
Many families in this region are poor. They have limited resources or limited time to help their kids exercise and eat healthy foods, and there are few grocery stores or markets to buy fresh produce and few parks where they can be active.
“Kids sleep ‘til 10 or 11 in the morning because there’s nothing to do [on weekends or summer days],” said Reyna Flores, who worked as a nurse at Camp Get FIT this summer while her two children participated.
In response, the Get FIT program partners with school districts to conduct student BMI assessments. In two elementary schools, parents of students who have a high BMI receive an invitation from the school for weekly parent-child nutrition sessions during the fall and spring semesters. At these sessions, children go to a gym to play a sport or have a “hands-on” nutrition lesson while their parents get nutrition lessons, and then the parents rejoin the children and exercise together.
In the summer, many of the students go to the free, four-week Camp Get FIT.
Camp begins with an overall health assessment. Children participate in yoga, swimming, sports, arts and crafts, nutrition lessons and nature hikes. The program partners with the school district to implement a nutritious summer food program, so camp participants eat from a healthy menu of items, such as low-fat milk, fresh fruits and vegetables, low-sodium entrees made from scratch and high-fiber foods.
Children are urged to “listen to their stomachs” to let them know when they are full.
“After a week of camp, many parents comment that they can see their children’s bellies are much flatter, and their constipation issues are gone. This is because of the camp meals’ fiber content, which also helps them feel full so they don’t eat as much,” Visio said. “A lot of kids will go home and tell their parents what healthy items to get at the store. It’s really amazing.”
Allied health students from the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio and other universities earn credit hours by volunteering as camp counselors and role-modeling healthy behaviors. The allied health students also mentor local high-school students who get stipends to work as camp counselors.
“This helps increase community interaction and sustain the program,” Visio said.
Katherine and Kathleen Benavides, sisters and students at Crystal City High School, worked at the camp this past summer and helped students try new foods and activities.
“It’s really valuable what these kids are learning here. They take it with them and they teach other kids good habits,” said Kathleen Benavides. “Even I learned how to make certain snacks that are healthy.”
And the camp isn’t just for kids, either. Parents are required to attend evening classes that teach nutrition and positive parenting.
“Healthy eating and exercising is a family concern,” Visio said.
Although the camp’s goal is simply to prevent weight gain during the summer months, when some students would otherwise engage in few physical activities, many children actually lose weight. One girl lost 10 pounds in four weeks.
“All the kids’ fitness levels improved,” Visio said. “They have a lot more energy now.”
Visio said she hopes to expand the program to more South Texas communities in the coming years, each time gaining the support of the local school district and school board to be able to sustain the program on a continuing basis.
“You can’t imagine the need in rural communities. There are no YMCA programs, no parks and recreation departments that typically run summer programs for children. Many of these families could not afford them even if they existed,” Visio said. “We want to build the communities up so they can start making strides to reduce childhood obesity levels.”
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